Saturday, August 14, 2010

Siruthuli sows seeds to make Coimbatore a green city

Siruthuli office-bearers, prison inmates and officials led by District Collector P. Umanath on Friday sowed the seeds for raising 30,000 saplings at the 12 mother beds created inside the Coimbatore Central prison grounds as part of the Viduthalai Pasumai Payanam project to raise 1 lakh saplings.

The objective of the exercise was to enhance the greenery in and around Coimbatore.

Mr. Mayilsami told The Hindu that as part of the Viduthalai Pasumai Payanam, Siruthuli provides inputs such as seeds, wet sand, manure and plastic bags and the prison inmates especially women will nurture the saplings till two ft.

The saplings will then be handed over to Siruthuli which takes care of them at its nursery till they grow up to five or six feet and then it is given to the beneficiaries. The prison inmates had already handed over 20,000 saplings. Siruthuli presented the women prison inmates with gifts for working without any remuneration.

Now, in the second phase, the sowing of seeds was for another 30,000 saplings and the remaining 50,000 would be done in a phased manner. The seeds sown on Friday were of the flower, fruit and shade-bearing varieties with some saplings having timber value.

Siruthuli was also into raising 55,000 saplings for the project of the State Government as part of the World Classical Tamil Conference commemorative initiative.

Of the target of 55,000 saplings, Siruthuli has already handed over 30,000 saplings and the rest are being raised now. These saplings are being provided to schools, colleges, industrial units on the advice of the District Forest Officer.